An attempt is being made by some West Point grads to turn the Army against President Trump:
Last Thursday, a group of West Point graduates calling themselves “Concerned Members of the Long Gray Line” published an open letter attacking, without directly naming, President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (West Point class of 1986), and several other members of the class of ’86 who have served in the current presidential administration. The letter was coyly framed as advice to this year’s class of West Point graduates, but it’s clear the intent is to generate negative news coverage of their political opponents. It worked.
CNN and other media outlets gleefully republished excerpts of the letter, happy to portray Pompeo and the other West Pointers in the administration as deceitful, oath-breaking toadies who have made a “Faustian bargain and endeavor to please their commanders and advance their careers” at the expense of troops in combat.
The letter’s clear message is that Pompeo and the other West Pointers in the Trump administration are dishonorable deplorables who have failed to uphold West Point’s motto of “Duty, Honor, Country,” not to mention their oath of office and the Constitution. The “Concerned Members” would have us know that by making their “Faustian bargain,” these failed fellow graduates “prize loyalty to individuals over the ideals expressed in the Constitution.”
The American people should not be duped. This is utter nonsense. It is both false and not representative of West Point graduates. Make no mistake about it: although ostensibly addressed to the graduating class of 2020, the ultimate target of this political screed is not them, or even Pompeo or his West Point classmates. It is the current commander in chief.
Although the signers attempt to portray themselves as pure and motivated by only altruistic motives of “Duty, Honor, Country,” their letter is part of a dishonest and hypocritical effort most likely intended to promote the “Resistance.”
These People Don’t Represent West Point
Who are these “Concerned Members”? With approximately 500 supposed signatories as of the time the letter was published (less than 1 percent of living West Point graduates, according to data from a source at West Point’s Association of Graduates), this article will not try to characterize each person. But we know something about many of them. Some are Democrat politicians. Some are self-styled members of “the Resistance.” At least one was booted out of the Army early.
Go here to read the rest. In order to get Orange Man Bad, some members of the resistance would apparently wish to throw into the waste paper basket the entire concept of civilian control of the military. We live in a suddenly very dangerous period in American history, and few developments currently are more ominous than attempts to have our military betray their oaths to the Constitution.
The authors at the above piece at The Federalist, John Lucas and James R. McDonough, are both both combat veterans and West Point grads. James R. McDonough is the author of the classic Vietnam memoir Platoon Leader (1985): It relates the story of the author as a newly graduated West Pointer, assigned as a First Lieutenant to command an understrength platoon occupying a village in a Viet Cong dominated section of Vietnam. McDonough relates his struggles to be a competent platoon commander as he learns all the things that the Army had failed to train him about and that were vital for him to learn quickly if he and his men were to survive and prevail. McDonough learned that when it came to stand up fights with the Viet Cong assaulting his village, American fire power would prevail and inflict heavy losses on the enemy. What was deadly for the troops were the drip, drip losses caused on daily patrols through booby-traps planted by the Cong. (Shades of IEDs in Iraq!) McDonough comes to respect and like almost all the men he commands, impressed by their courage and their willingness to fight for each other. He does not romanticize them, but he clearly shows the nobility of spirit of most of them as they stoically endure their tours. The burden of command lays heavily on McDonough, a constant theme of the book. This is illustrated when he sends a squad to swim in the ocean, hoping that the salt water will be good for their jungle sores, and be fun for the men. Two of the men are caught in the tide and drown, and McDonough blames himself for their deaths, learning the old military fact of life that when you are in command, everything is your responsibility. I am not surprised that his fidelity to his oath is just as bright today as when he served in Vietnam a half century ago.
“Although the signers attempt to portray themselves as pure and motivated by only altruistic motives of “Duty, Honor, Country,” their letter is part of a dishonest and hypocritical effort most likely intended to promote the “Resistance.”
Agree. Trump must not let this pass or it will encourage more.
Even the military seems to have some leaders with the same attitude as other government agencies who abused their authority to further a political agenda.
It seems odd to me that many generals are so concerned about even considering the use of force to resist domestic violent protest against our government. But these same generals had little concern for the well being of the military forces they commanded in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.
We are still waiting for accountability for high ranking government officials with spying and misinformation used to undermine our elected president. Now it seems that the secretary of defense and some of the most senior leaders are likewise more loyalty to the deep state than the commander in chief. I fear that Biden’s recent comments about the military removing Trump from office, may be an indication of a Democrat strategy to create chaos with the election and deny legitimacy a second Trump presidency. Perhaps even win the presidency through violence rather than by a constitutional election.
With a DC mayor inciting violent protest at the White House and the Secretary of Defense and the head of the Joint Chief’s of Staff urging the National Guard to stand down; perhaps it is time to move our government out of Washington DC before is is declared part of an autonomous governing authority within our nation.
Since government corruption is not punished, and insubordination of the senior military leadership celebrated, perhaps is time to dramatically reduce the size of our government and shift military ground forces from the active duty Army and Marine Corps to the National Guard. In uncertain times there is the hope that conservative governors will have an influence regarding how and when the National Guard is used. It would also may be prudent to retire the senior commanders who so poorly commanded our forces who were placed in a situation where our nations most talented, brave and loyal citizens were sacrificed by political and military leaders with such poorly formulated policies and strategies.
Every signer of that letter should be recalled to duty and court martialed. This is sedition. If that seems draconian, so would be a military coup, which these vermin clearly wish to see happen. Time to make some hard choices.
This is why President Donald J. Trump needs to call in the Sec’y of the Army and order him to fire Milley, the signers of the ‘letter,’ and any others that go political.
Likely violates the UCMJ.
The administrative state/deep state and leftist elites will never cease trying to destroy the people’s president, Donald J. Trump.
The Spanish military in the early 1930s was shot through with masonic lodges, and they sided with the Republic. I hadn’t thought something similar was afoot in our military. Now I’m not so sure.
Franco always regarded the Masons as a threat Art, but a fair number of officers with Masonic ties fought for the Nationalists. Spanish government under the Second Republic was heavily dominated by Masons.
Reading Civil War book, “Campfires and Battlefields” by Rossiter Johnson. President Buchanan’s lame-duck War, Treasury, and oother departments were filled with traitorous secessionists who took actions to arm the South and scatter the regular Army and Navy; handed over forts, arsenals, mints to the proto-Confederate seceshes. A. Lincoln got rid of them early on. But, the damage was done, and the South began the war with unusual for a start-up nation military and fiscal advantages. President Trump has faced similar, subtle disloyalties from day one and in the 21st century the administrative/deep state is so entrenched there was little he could do.